Former Bellator star Pedro Carvalho was working in the heat in a factory in his native Portugal to begin his fighting career. Now he stands to become world featherweight champion and win PFL’s $1 million featherweight tournament.
A pupil of John Kavanagh’s famous Straight Blast Gym in Dublin, Carvalho was one of the few talented Portuguese players to emerge on the European stage. He had a record of 5 wins and 3 losses before using the money he saved from his day job to head to Ireland for elite training under legendary coaches.
Within about a year, he headed to Bellator. A huge upset victory over BAMMA champion Daniel Crawford will propel him to the top of the promotion’s rankings. Then, after the American team was acquired by the PFL in a merger and he became co-leader of MMA, Carvalho entered the league season where he would earn an eye-opening, life-changing amount of money.
SBG Ireland’s Pedro Carvalho isn’t motivated by $1 million in prize money
In an exclusive chat with Bloody Elbow ahead of his opener against Brendan Locknane tomorrow night, Carvalho insists it’s not the money that motivates him for the big fight.
Rather, he says, it’s the glory at the world championships that ignites the fire in his heart. “To be honest, I’m thinking more about the belt,” he explained. “Because if I focus on being the best fighter in the world, I want to focus on the belt where I can win a million.
“However, if your concentration goes down to a million, you might lose yourself in the middle, and I have experience in that regard.”
Pedro Carvalho returns to the top after Bellator setback
The experience Carvalho is referring to is facing the iconic Patricio Pitbull in the early rounds at the 2020 Bellator Grand Prix. If he had won that “loser goes home” tournament, he would have defeated the legend of the sport and taken home $1 million in prize money on top of that.
featherweight @BrendanMMA and Pedro Carvalho plan to kick off the 2024 PFL season with a bang in Chicago
[ Friday, April 19th | 7pm ET on ESPN+ | 10pm ET on ESPN ] pic.twitter.com/ulMuBBVqHP
— PFL (@PFLMMA) April 16, 2024
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“I fought for a million dollars before, and I was young,” he recalled. “I let myself shine with bright lights and cameras and attention. But all of that made me the fighter that I think I need right now to be a world champion in this season’s format.
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“After the learning process that I’ve been through, I now like to call it loss learning. It’s like my coach John Kavanaugh says, ‘You either win or you learn.’ is [the title of his best-selling book].
“I’m not going to lie, it was tough because the last fight was a hard pill to swallow after everything was perfect. It was a great camp. The weight cut was also very easy. That’s all I can say about the camp. No. The camp was perfect, and one second, an uppercut and that’s it.
Explaining the PFL format where fighters compete for $1 million in prize money
The Professional Fighters League pits athletes against each other in an unprecedented tournament format that utilizes meritocracy to prove who is the top fighter in each division. First, you enter the pool stage, similar to soccer’s Champions League, and advance to the semi-finals and final.
During the regular season, each fighter fights two matches over three rounds. When a fighter wins he gets 3 points and when he finishes he gets up to 3 bonus points. Earn extra points for each round you avoid by ending the fight early.
This is aimed at guaranteeing the athletes an intensive year of regular competition, pitting them all against each other at various points to legitimately prove who is the best fighter in each division. Masu. Carvalho faces a tough test in his group debut against 2022 champion Brendan Loughnen, who suffered his first loss in six fights when he was knocked out by Jesus Pinedo last year.
Pedro Carvalho had his sights set on Brendan Loughnen from the start of his time in the PFL.
And the Portuguese striker insists he was keen to prove himself by overcoming perhaps the toughest test in the division early on. “I remember having two names in my head and focusing on them,” he added. “I wanted to play against them.
“One of them was Brendan, and when John came up to me and said, ‘We’ve got Brendan Ronen,’ I thought, ‘Holy crap, this was meant to be.’ It was just going to happen. I don’t know, but when you have so many fighters in front of you, you can’t just focus on the one you think can beat.
“I always look at the players that pose the toughest challenges or the players that everyone says, “Oh, this guy.” I was always like, “Oh, it’s him, let’s take a look.” Style-wise, it’s the type of matchup that excites me because I know we’re going to clash with him. ”
